The Rule 5 Draft is less than half an hour away, beginning at 10am ET as this week’s Winter Meetings in Nashville, Tenn. draw to a close. Those unfamiliar with the Rule 5 Draft can check out MLBTR’s full primer on the event here, but the short version of the story is that teams with open 40-man roster spots can select players with four to five years of pro experience from other organizations if said player hasn’t been protected on the 40-man roster. Players that signed at 18 years of age or younger but have five years of experience can be selected, as can players signed at 19 or older that have four years of experience. Clubs don’t have to make picks — many will not — and players that are selected must be carried on a team’s active roster (or MLB DL) throughout the entire 2016 season or be exposed to waivers and then offered back to their original club. Teams can also work out trades with the original organization to keep the selected player in the organization but send him to the minors.
The Rule 5 Draft order is based on the reverse order of last year’s standings. It’s already been reported that the Phillies are likely to take Rays outfielder Tyler Goeddel with the No. 1 pick, and Baseball America’s J.J. Cooper hears that the Reds are leaning toward selecting outfielder Jake Cave from the Yankees with the second pick. Both Cooper (link here) and Callis (link here) have listed plenty of names that could be selected and provided brief rundowns of each player, for those who want to brush up before the event approaches. Furthermore, Cooper took a stab this morning at projecting the early portion of the draft.
We’ll track the results here once the draft is officially underway (current 40-man roster count listed in parenthesis; hat tip to Callis on that info)…
Round 1
- Phillies (37): Tyler Goeddel, OF (Rays)
- Reds (35): Jake Cave, OF (Yankees)
- Braves (39): Evan Rutckyj, LHP (Yankees)
- Rockies (39): Luis Perdomo, RHP (Cardinals)
- Brewers (34): Colin Walsh, 2B (Athletics)
- Athletics (38): Jabari Blash, OF (Mariners) — Susan Slusser reports he’s expected to be traded to Padres (Twitter link)
- Marlins (38): No Selection
- Padres (36): Josh Martin (Indians)
- Tigers (40): No Selection
- White Sox (38): No Selection
- Mariners (40): No Selection
- Red Sox (40): No Selection
- D-backs (40): No Selection
- Rays (40): No Selection
- Orioles (39): Joey Rickard, OF (Rays)
- Indians (40): No Selection
- Twins (40): No Selection
- Nationals (37): No Selection
- Giants (38): No Selection
- Angels (34): Deolis Guerra, RHP (Pirates)
- Astros (37): No Selection
- Yankees (39): No Selection
- Rangers (37): No Selection
- Mets (39): No Selection
- Dodgers (38): No Selection
- Blue Jays (35): Joe Biagini, RHP (Giants)
- Royals (39): No Selection
- Cubs (39): No Selection
- Pirates (38): No Selection
- Cardinals (34): Matthew Bowman, RHP (Mets)
Round 2
- Phillies: Daniel Stumpf, LHP (Royals)
- Reds: Chris O’Grady, LHP (Angels)
- Brewers: Zach Jones, RHP (Twins)
- Padres: Blake Smith, RHP (White Sox)
- Angels: Ji-Man Choi, 1B (Orioles)
Cave doesn’t seem like a great pick for the Reds. With as bad as they are, why settle for the guy who may have a 4th or 5th outfielder ceiling? Would think Hernandez or Blash would be better picks (assuming Goeddel is indeed selected.
They don’t have to keep him and the cost to draft and return him is pretty minimal
I understand that, but if you’re going to be terrible you can risk taking a player with a higher ceiling. That’s all I was saying.
I missed the last part of your post.
Cave has hit pretty well in his minor league career (110+ wRC+ at every level) but struggled in AA this year.
You also have to knock someone else off the 25. That is a risk, unless you have lots of guys with options.
He has hit at every level the problem is the Yankees have about 5 lefty/CF types, Cave and Heathcott have been wasting away in the Yankees system.
Thinking the same thing about my Brewers. Walsh probably can be a utility guy who can play around the diamond and supply occasional pop right away, but when we’re obviously planning for 3-4 years down the road why not take the chance on Blash? At 6 ‘5″ maybe we could have tried him out at our now glaring hole at 1B.
Would be worried about Blash having that many games in the minors and never being able to crack the Mariners line up in any way something would seem to be wrong with him or the Mariners are just blind.
Perhaps i’m an idiot, but do the picks not go in the order of worst – best record. With the world series teams being last?
Cardinals-Pirates-Cubs had the best records, so by record only it seems.
If the Cardinals had not planned on making an FA moves or trades where they gain players, I have no idea why they are not protecting more players on their 40 man.
Something to be said about roster flexibility to navigate the off-season. Additions will be made, having the room precludes the need to waive someone later
Jabari Blash could be a Justin Maxwell type player
Sucks the Rays weren’t able to include Goeddel in the 40 man. But with the amount of infielders in the organization, especially guys in front of him, it would of continued the log jam.
You referenced to the wrong Perdomo.. The ‘correct’ one is not on the baseball reference site yet. This is the guy that just got drafted: link to milb.com.
Yeah I noticed that too. He is on baseball reference but you have to go to the minor league side.
link to baseball-reference.com
Round 2 coming up, interested to see if the Phillies take two players.
Odd that the Yankee Farmhands were 2 of the top 3 selected.
Thought that the Yankee Minor League talent was way under the rest of MLB ?
How do you even pronounce that pitchers name?
These are unprotected guys with at least 4 years of service, not exactly the cream of the crop. Usually older guys who have struggled a bit or are log-jammed in their systems. Every now and again one works out, but most of them are long shots to do much. Just means Yankees have some depth in their system, not necessarily any studs at the top though.
Color me puzzled! I was under the impression that the Pirate’s had already signed Guerra to a minor league contract with a spring invite just a couple days ago.
They did. But he was not on the 40 man roster. Therefore he is eligible to be drafted.
Correct. He wasn’t on the 40-man and met all other qualifications so he was eligible.
Why did they say Colin Walsh is a first baseman? I dont think he has ever played a game at first.
Phillies have done an above average job of restocking their farm system. They look like they have a few waves of players coming, and they still have this years #1 pick + the international market, which they are expected to slurge.. Looking good, with their TV contract and just about free’d up contracts… they should turn around rather quickly “IF” these players pan out. They have a lot to sort through.
Well I am not exactly thrilled with the Rockies pick. A starter with a 4.66 ERA in low A last season is extremely unlikely to worthy of a year long 25 man roster spot. I really hope they don’t try to hide him in the bullpen like the Brewers did with Wang a couple of years ago.
Glad the Phillies didn;t have anyone swiped off their unprotected list.
Triple-A Phase?
Walsh has never played first base. He’s mostly been a second baseman throughout his minor league career.
I wish the Pirates had taken a chance on Balbino Fuenmayor. Could have been in a platoon at first/been the 25th guy on the roster, at least until Bell was ready. It should have been worth 25-50k.
I’m not particularly impressed with either Brewers pick, but they must see something I don’t. I guess they might as well throw as many darts at the board as possible and hope one or two of them hit.